Spiritual Evolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith

I finished my reading and this is really an amazing book, for it states in one place many things about spirituality and positive emotions that you may have heard about here and there or seem to be intuitive, but are not linked to any formal scientific knowledge. Here you may the links that were missing, or at least the first step to bring spirituality, positive emotions and science closer together. It puts in black and white many ideas about religion and spirituality. I think the last chapter is the best, but you will not feel it if you have not read the other ones. It's always good to read and meditate about positive emotions, it helps in keeping them alive! Useful for my spiritual journey. Helps understanding goals and means.

Spiritual Evolution is really a book about what binds us together. Religions have historically done some great things, but have also spread violence and segregation in the name of truth. Vaillant's heart-filled and wise book addresses what is universally good and true about all spiritual practice, and does so in a way that will inspire you to spread love, joy, and forgiveness.

If you are ready to explore new discoveries connecting spirituality and neuroscience, and have an expert collect them, summarize them and make them not only readable but meaningful, read this book. As the jacket cover of this terrific book says, "Dr. Vaillant lays out a brilliant defense not of organized religion, but of man's inherent spirituality." He finds that the positive emotions of love, joy, hope and forgiveness are rooted in the evolution of the human brain. He predicts that our spiritual evolution will continue, and quotes published research in neuroscience and related fields that support this idea. His writing is informative, clever and witty, filled with humanity, compassion, and the wisdom of a scholar with a deep commitment to understanding how the tapestries of human connection and spirituality are interwoven. He is justifiably well-known for scholarly publications derived from his direction of the Harvard study of adult development for 35 years, his work in alcoholism, and his willingness to integrate diverse points of view.

Harvard Psychiatrist George Vaillant has made a major contribution to the research into mental and emotional health with his findings published in this new book. I am quoting him in several papers I have just written on this new genre of expanding spirituality. Finally, we are taking the experience of spirituality out of the neocortex of the brain where we "talk" about it and into the limbic brain where we "feel" it. And, as Vaillant explains -- we do it with positive emotion -- compassion, love, forgiveness, awe, hope, faith/trust and gratitude. This is an intelligent read and great contribution! Barbara Harris Whitfield, author of The Power of Humility, and The Natural Soul (Sterlinghouse, 2009)

Here is what will happen to you when you read George Vaillant's Spiritual Evolution: * During the chapter "Joy," you may cry as you feel Joy. During the chapter "Love," you will want to call home to say Hi. * You will be pulled in by personal stories from the Study of Adult Development, and how these men have come around to positive emotions and spirituality. * You will be inside a colossal head fake - a situation in which you're learning but it seems like you're playing. In Spiritual Evolution, Vaillant does something amazing: he makes the reader feel the emotion in the chapter about that emotion - Joy, Love, Compassion, Awe, and more. Imagine having a book in which you could reach for the emotion Joy just by opening that chapter again. This is the psychoanalyst at his best - he has bottled the emotions. Furthermore, he's bottled them by connecting your curiosity about how the mind works with your love for Emily Dickinson. It's the best kind of learning when it feels like play. Imagine having a book that you open up, and Vaillant on the other side says, "Let's play."